


I Really Do Trust You

by tsjn



Category: Marvel (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bruce Is a Good Bro, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Misunderstandings, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Oblivious Avengers, Oblivious Steve, Panic Attacks, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Tony Stark Feels, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-14
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 01:37:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7488291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsjn/pseuds/tsjn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team does a very different version of trust falls. Tony, dealing with the aftermath of New York, doesn't participate. The team starts to wonder if Tony really trusts them.</p><p>Or</p><p>Tony tries too hard not to disappoint, and has a panic attack because of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hi and enjoy

“Fury expects me to yell at you two for skipping the debrief today,” Steve said as he stepped into the common room of the Avengers tower, followed closely by Thor, Natasha, and Bruce. Clint was still wearing his suit, his hair smoking and singed, and Tony beside him in the skin tight suit he wore under the armor. They had their feet up on the coffee table and were playing videogames.

When the Avengers first moved into his tower, Tony made an impressive effort to distance himself from them, constantly coming up with excuses to be down in the lab or out of the building entirely. Over time though, he had grown comfortable, perhaps even happy, with the domesticity of his new life.

“Go ahead,” Clint replied as he took out his hearing aids. Tony suppressed a giggle, knowing his reaction would only irritate Steve more. Beside him, Bruce flopped down in an armchair looking exhausted, and Thor sat on the opposite side of him. Steve and Natasha remained standing. 

“We’re meant to be doing debriefs as a team, not just missions. We have to go over how we can improve for next time,” Steve continued, stepping in front of the TV. 

“Come on Cap, you just lost us the level!” Tony whined, setting his controller down on the table and looking up at him. “In my professional opinion, I did everything flawlessly. I don’t know what you want me to improve on.” Out of the corner of his eye he saw Nat roll her eyes, but she said nothing. 

“Hawkeye jumped out of a building without warning!” Steve said, raising his voice in annoyance. He didn’t move.

“First of all Cap, you’re one to talk, you do that every other mission. Second of all, I caught him!” Tony shot back.

“I knew Tony would catch me,” Clint added. Of course he had been reading their lips the entire time. “It was a very elaborate trust fall.”

“What if one day Tony doesn’t catch you?” Steve asked, turning to Clint.

“Just because you don’t trust me enough to have your back, Rogers, doesn’t mean everybody else feels the same,” Tony retorted, getting up to leave.

“That’s not what I meant Tony,” Steve pleaded, his voice softer. The sudden change in tone made him almost consider staying, but only almost. 

“I remember trust falls from when I was a kid,” Bruce offered, trying to distract the two. 

“Holy crap Bruce you have the best ideas,” Clint exclaimed. That got Tony’s attention enough to turn around. Steve was looking at him intently, but Tony didn’t meet his eyes. Instead he looked to where Clint was running with a blanket over to the bar. He beckoned for the others to join him, before he climbed up to the balcony which hung over the bar.

“Clint, I don’t know what you remember, but this is not how we did trust falls back in my day,” Bruce commented, as Clint instructed them to each take a corner of the blanket. It created a net under the balcony.

Tony nodded in the direction of the rest of the team, signaling for Steve to join them. He was about to follow, when he realized that there were only four corners of the blanket, and five of them. The math left him out. Instead, he leaned against the nearest wall to watch, staying clear of them. 

“See Steve? I trust all of you to catch me,” Clint said, as he climbed up on the railing of the balcony. Steve sighed, but nodded at him as he grabbed his own corner of the blanket.

Clint turned his back to his teammates, letting himself fall from the balcony and land with a bounce on the blanket they all held. He whooped in exhilaration, rolling off the blanket with a grin so wide Tony was sure he would be stuck like that for all of eternity.

“Okay, my turn,” Nat announced, handing her corner of the blanket to Clint. Instead of standing on the railing however, she put her hands on the railing and lifted her legs over her head into a handstand, much like a gymnast on a bar would. This earned her many cheers from the team, and Tony smiled, but stayed silent. Clint shouted a countdown, and Nat let herself fall onto the blanket with incredible grace.

“Do you think it would be possible to hold my weight?” Thor asked, handing his corner to Natasha. Tony, seeing he wasn’t needed, started quietly towards the door.

“Of course we can,” Clint scoffed. “Tony, get over here!” he called, and Tony froze. He didn’t expect his teammates to notice his absence for at least another half hour. Not that he was complaining.

Tony pushed down the feeling of warmth blooming in his chest at the sudden inclusion, walking over to join his his team. He reached for the middle of the blanket, between Nat and Bruce, where muscle was more noticeably lacking than between Clint and the supersoldier. 

Thor’s impact caught Tony off guard, but together the team kept him from dropping onto the ground. Thor jumped up and demanded to go again, and for a second Tony was afraid he would smash something, but he seemed to have learned after the coffee incident in New Mexico.

Afterwards, Clint begged like a puppy to go again, until Nat pointed out that neither Tony nor Steve had been. 

“Oh, I don’t know…” Steve said quickly, which earned him several questioning looks from his team members. Clint opened his mouth to push, but Tony jumped in before he could.

“I’ll go,” he offered. He gave Steve a small smile and a nod, a silent message that whatever it was that was bothering Steve, Tony understood. Steve looked like he was about to hug him as thanks, or say something nice (neither of which Tony was overly excited about, because eww feelings). Tony quickly escaped up the stairs, taking them them two steps at a time. 

When he stood at the edge, however, Tony immediately cursed himself for, as always, trying to help without thinking about how it affected him. It wasn’t heights, he had always liked heights. Imagine flying the Iron Man suit with a fear of heights. No, Tony was afraid of falling. It was one of the many repercussions of his little stunt in New York. 

“Come on Tony, we’ll catch you!” Clint called, as Tony staggered away from the edge. Murmurs of agreement joined him, but it did nothing to quell the rising panic. All he could think of was falling forever and ever, and being completely alone, and cold and dark emptiness.

“I know,” Tony whispered to himself, incapable of bringing his voice to an audible level. The edges of his vision went blurry, and Tony reminded himself to breathe. On his right wrist, he wore a watch which pulsed lightly against his wrist with every second, a birthday gift from Rhodey after he found out Tony was struggling with panic attacks. He closed his eyes and focused on it, breathing in for four seconds, and out for three, with a break for one second. Soon he found he could see straight again, but below him the rest of his team grew more restless. 

“Anthony, you trust us, do you not?” Thor queried. Tony felt guilt begin to war with panic for his attention, and slowly he approached the railing again, gripping it hard. 

“We’re going to catch you Tony,” Nat said, frowning. Tony understood it was meant to be reassuring, but it felt more like a slap in the face after Tony had done this just to get Steve out of a similar situation. He sighed, knowing it was pointless in being angry with them. From their point of view he could imagine it looking like he didn’t trust them.

Tony had trust issues, and had had trust issues for as long as he remembered. But after they bonded over the end of the world, he had thrown his usual reservations out the window. This wasn't an issue of trust, this was an issue of him feeling like he was going to die all over again. He would appreciate not having his somewhat regular panic attacks being out in the open. They wouldn’t be the first people to think he was just overacting, and Tony wasn’t sure he could take that from people he already cared so deeply for. 

It was Steve who finally spoke up, with frustration seeping into his voice, and asked, “If you can’t trust us to catch you now, how can you trust us during missions?” The same annoyance was visible on the faces of his other teammates, and he realized panic was beginning to push its way up again, but this time it was for fear of disappointing the team. Tony finally gave into the pressure and climbed onto the railing, sitting with his feet dangling off the edge. 

Tony’s breathing sped up, and he tried to stay and go through with it, but his vision blurred again and nausea rushed over him. He almost fell backwards as he scrambled to get off the railing, and squeezed it tight to make sure he didn’t fall as he stumbled down the steps. He heard the voices of the other Avengers, but they were drowned out by the sound of his heart beating in his ears, and ignored them as he headed for the elevator, and then the lab.

“JARVIS, lockdown the lab, six hours,” Tony gasped as he stepped out of the elevator, promptly collapsing on the cold floor. He was shaking, and felt tears run down his eyes. In the background, he could hear JARVIS reciting the location, date, time, before moving on to questioning Tony on scientific laws and vocabulary to distract him. Dum-E wheeled over to him and patted his back with his metal claw. He was rarely as grateful for his genius as when JARVIS and his bots helped him through a panic attack, or woke him up during a nightmare. And they wouldn’t leave, unlike so many people had after New York.

Fifteen minutes later, Tony drifted into an exhausted sleep on the floor, which was where Bruce found him in the morning.


	2. Chapter 2

“Tony, wake up,” Bruce said, nudging the brown haired genius. He had dragged Tony over to the red sofa in the corner, so he wouldn’t be on the floor anymore.

“Five more minutes mom, it’s Saturday,” Tony replied. Even in his sleep he had a sarcastic comment for anything. Having tried, and failed at waking Tony many times, Bruce decided he wouldn’t get anywhere without coffee. He turned around and left for the kitchen, but when he returned, the genius was back on the ground shivering and sobbing in his sleep.

“Tony, I need you to wake up, alright?” Bruce said softly, setting the coffee down on the nearest table and kneeling at the brunette’s side. “Tony you’re dreaming. It’s not real. You’re in Avengers tower, in New York, with your best science bro, you know, the giant green rage monster?”

“Don’t let me fall, please don’t let me fall,” Tony mumbled through sobs in his sleep. Bruce hadn’t seen Tony so distraught before in his life, and it was truly heartbreaking. As he saw the genius curl in on himself, making him seem even smaller, he deeply regretted dozing off the one time Tony had tried to open up to somebody. 

“I’m not going to let you fall, I’m right here,” he said and wrapped his arms around Tony. Instantly, he felt the genius tense up, but he didn’t push away.

“Bruce?” Tony asked softly. He was sniffling, but the sobbing had subsided and Tony was fully awake.

“Hey Tony,” Bruce said, pulling back but leaving his hand on the genius’ shoulder. “I brought you coffee. I thought you might want some, but you didn’t come up this morning.”

“I ruined your shirt.” Tony took the coffee from Bruce, but didn’t look him in the eye.

“Yeah, well seeing as it was your money that bought it, I think I can find it in my heart to forgive you,” Bruce laughed softly, before his smile dropped and turned into a concerned frown. “Do you want to talk about it? I should have listened last time.” With that, Tony looked up at Bruce. 

“Nope,” he said, the typical Tony Stark nonchalance returning to his voice. He took a sip of his coffee, but pulled back when it burned his tongue. “So, seeing as no one comes down here just to give me coffee, what do you want?”

“I wanted to apologize for last night,” Bruce started, making a mental note to bring Tony coffee every morning in the future. “The trust fall thing, I understood why you didn’t want to do it. I was about to ask you if you wanted to come down to the lab with me instead when you disappeared.”

“I’m a piping hot mess, not your responsibility,” Tony said, shrugging. He moved to get up, but his legs betrayed him and he stumbled, almost spilling coffee all over the sofa. 

“No Tony, they were pressuring you into doing something you clearly weren’t comfortable with,” Bruce said more sternly. He wanted nothing more than to go green and rip apart whoever it was in Tony’s past that had led to his incredibly low self-worth. But at that moment, Tony needed him by his side more. “I should have said something sooner. We shouldn’t be the ones causing panic attacks, we should be helping you.”

“Wha-? How did you…” he trailed off, narrowing his eyes and looking straight into the nearest camera. “Traitor.”

“My sincerest apologies, Sir,” came JARVIS’s voice, but the AI clearly wasn’t particularly remorseful. Bruce marveled at how Tony had managed to program so much emotion into a machine, but then again, he was Tony Stark. 

“It doesn’t matter. They don’t think I trust them,” Tony said, once again trying to get up. This time he managed to walk over to his work station where an arrow was lain out. He began to tinker with the head of the arrow, asking JARVIS to run tests on how they could increase the aerodynamics of it while retaining the same force of the explosion. 

“Maybe you should trust them enough to tell them,” Bruce said, falling down on the couch. Tony froze momentarily, before returning to his work.

“That’s entirely unfair, and no.”

“Tony,” Bruce pleaded.

“Bruce,” Tony said with a level of finality that he usually reserved for politicians or the media or the military when they begged him to make them weapons. Bruce wanted to push, but the harder he pushed, the harder Tony would push back. He sighed, knowing the man was more stubborn than a mountain, and decided to let it go for the moment.

“Well at least come upstairs and grab breakfast with me,” Bruce said, getting up and taking Tony’s coffee from the work station.

“Come back with that or you’ll see you’re not the only one who can lose control and turn into a giant green rage monster!” Tony called over his shoulder, but Bruce just rolled his eyes and continued walking to the elevator. Tony slipped through the doors just as they were closing. “I hate you,” he mumbled. Bruce hummed happily and handed Tony his coffee.

When they stepped out of the elevator, Clint, Thor, and Nat were sitting around the kitchen eating eggs and leftover pizza. Clint was sitting on the kitchen island, facing Nat who was sitting on the counter. Thor was sitting on a stool, leaning on the island as well. When Bruce and Tony approached, they quickly stopped talking, allowing Tony to guess that he was the topic of discussion.

“Do you want pizza or cereal for breakfast? We’re out of eggs,” Bruce said, opening the fridge while Tony worked on making himself a second cup of coffee.

“Pizza is not a breakfast food,” Tony stated plainly. Bruce laughed while the others remained uncomfortably silent. 

“That hasn’t exactly stopped you before,” he replied, getting milk out of the fridge.

“Well it’s not breakfast if you haven’t slept, so I’ve never had an issue with it,” Tony explained. The one on one conversation with three silent witnesses was really starting to get on his nerves. 

“You eat pizza for breakfast every day,” Bruce commented. Tony rolled his eyes and grabbed two bowls from the cabinets.

“You’re a smart man, Brucie,” he said, taking the cereal and milk from Bruce’s hands and pouring him and himself a bowl each. He saw Bruce frown, and he looked like he wanted to say something, but didn’t. He tossed a spoon to Bruce, which he didn’t catch, but Nat grabbed it before it hit the floor and handed it to him.

Seconds later, Steve walked in from his morning run and spotted Tony. Immediately Tony could see the shift in his facial expression from neutrality to annoyance. That did it. “Well, this was fun,” Tony spat, looking each member of his team in the eye before continuing, “but I have more important things to be doing than being given the silent treatment and the Captain America ‘I’m disappointed in you’ look.” Like he had the night before, the genius disappeared into the safety of the lab.

“Sir, would you like me to lockdown the lab?” came JARVIS’s voice. At least someone cared.

“Yeah, leave it locked until I say otherwise.” Going upstairs had been a mistake.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is much longer than the other two, as a nice finale thing. Enjoy!

   
“Sir, Mr. Rogers is requesting entrance to the lab,” JARVIS said, interrupting Tony as he was trying to get the dent out of a piece of his armor. 

“Tell him no,” he instructed the AI without looking away.

“I believe Ms. Romanoff has joined him, and is threatening to blow up the entrance.”

“Her I’m a little more afraid of,” Tony thought out loud. He spun around in his chair, trying to think of a good response. “Tell her the lab is the most reinforced part of the tower, and that I’ve hulk proofed it.”

“If I may, sir, that is inaccurate. The most reinforced parts of the tower would be the floors which the other Avengers reside in-”

“Yes JARVIS, astute observation, just convey what I said,” Tony barked, cutting him off. 

“Of course, sir,” JARVIS replied. After that it was silent for a long time. Tony worked away at the armor, followed random improvements on the rest of the team’s gear. Eventually, when he went to get himself another cup of coffee, he realized he was out. He had the whole kitchenette and coffee machine for exactly the purpose of hiding out. Why did it have to fail him now? Defeated, he turned to the glowing blue monitor.

“JARVIS, updates on where the team is,” he said. JARVIS pulled up a camera feed from just outside the lab, where all five of his teammates were lying in a heap of blankets. Steve and Nat were sitting against the wall, talking quietly. Clint had started out sitting next to them, but had since fallen asleep on Thor, who was reading The Silmarillion which Tony had recommended to him earlier that week. Bruce was asleep at their feet, closest to the door. “Okay, perhaps not. What would be the most efficient place to blast a hole and escape through?”

“I do not think it is in your best interest to tell you that, sir,” came the British voice. Tony sighed in response, but made his way to the door all the same. The door opened as he approached, prompting four of his teammates to spring up instantaneously, while Bruce sat up more slowly, blinking away the light that flooded out of the lab.

“How long have you been out here?” Tony asked, cutting off the stream of his team apologizing and yelling and such. 

“At least one member of the team has remained outside of the door for the past thirty two hours. Nine hours ago the team made the decision to spend the night outside your door,” JARVIS responded for them.

“Thirty six hours? How long have I-”

“Approximately 53 hours, sir.”

“Oh.” He turned to the team, kept his eyes trained on the floor. For a while they just stood there, the team expecting Tony to yell at them, and Tony expecting the team to do the same. 

“Tony, when was the last time you slept?” Nat asked after a while.

“I was on my way to get more coffee,” he said, shrugging. Bruce, who had gotten up from the floor, stepped around him and surveyed the lab. The lineup of coffee cups explained it better than he could have, but JARVIS felt the need to supply an exact number.

“That would have been 54 hours ago, when Dr. Banner woke Sir up for breakfast.”

“Tony!” came the collective outburst of his team. He maneuvered his way through them, heading towards the elevator. Quickly the other five piled in after him. 

“Have you eaten anything?” Steve asked. His voice was filled with concern, but Tony didn’t need to be babied.

“Look, Cap, I’m touched that you care, but I’m fine. I can take care of myself, contrary to popular belief,” he spat, stepping out of the elevator as soon as the doors opened. As he headed towards the kitchen, however, the alarm blared. They had work to do.

“Tony, you can’t go,” Clint said, as Tony walked to the landing pad, where the suit began to attach itself to him. 

“I’d really like to see you try and stop me,” Tony said, taking off. The team looked around at each other, sighing in defeat, and jumped in the quinjet after him. The source of the alarm was quite close to the tower, and when they arrived, the team was met by sphinx-like creatures attacking an NYPD precincts. There weren’t many, but their capability to fly made them less easily accessible to the grounded members of the team. Tony was already flying around over the building, shooting several out of the sky at a time. 

“Iron Man, status report,” Steve said, jumping out of the jet onto the roof of one of the nearby buildings. The other four followed him, but Bruce opted to stay not green, seeing as they could handle it without him. 

“You’re late to the party, I’m almost done here,” Tony replied, seconds before he was knocked out of the sky by a one of the last sphinxes.

“Tony!” Steve called. He didn’t fall far, just onto the roof of the precinct. Bruce was there within an instant, dragging a stumbling and uncoordinated Tony into the jet. Each of the Avengers were shouting into their comms, trying to get either Tony or Bruce to reply, but there was only silence. They jet took off in the direction of the tower, leaving the other four to finish up.

Five minutes later the remaining avengers burst through the elevator. Tony and Bruce were on the common floor, sitting on the floor in front of the couch. Neither of them gave any impression of noticing that their team had walked into the room. 

“What the hell happened out there?” Clint was the first to shout. Bruce took his eyes off Tony momentarily, to glare at him, but didn’t say anything.

“We saw Tony get hit, and then you two just took off,” Steve added. “What’s wrong? You’re not hurt are you? Tony?”

Neither Clint nor Steve got an answer, but JARVIS began to speak to Tony, ignoring the others. “Sir, the date is September 19th, you are in Avengers Tower. Can you tell me what the Doppler Effect is?”

“Please, JARVIS, am I a complete idiot?” Tony laughed, his voice wavering. “As the source of light, sound or other shit that outputs waves moves towards you, the frequency of the waves increases, causing a change in the pitch or causes a blueshift in light.” His voice was very shaky, and as the others approached, they saw the genius curled up on the ground, gasping for breaths while Bruce ran a comforting hand through his hair. 

“Very good, sir. What was the year that Einstein published his general theory of relativity?” JARVIS asked again.

“1915.”

“What is the Iron Man suit made out of?”

“Gold-titanium alloy, which is why the name is entirely inaccurate. Thanks J,” Tony said, his breathing becoming steadier.

“Of course, sir,” the AI responded, and then went silent.

“How are you Tony?” Bruce asked gently, the other standing around them, unsure of what they had just witnessed. He was still shivering slightly, but the panic had mostly subsided, and he just barely leaned into Bruce’s shoulder.

“Thanks Brucie,” Tony said, not answering the question. 

“You should eat something,” he nodded, getting up to make Tony something to eat. Tony made an attempt at standing, but found that his legs gave out as soon as there was any weight on them. If that was from the recent panic attack, or from his lack of sleep, or lack of eating, he didn’t know. He fell onto the couch and wrapped his arms around his knees, not looking any of his teammates in the eye.

Nat grabbed a blanket from one of the chairs in the room, and sat down next to Tony. She put the blanket over the two of them, and put one of her arms around him. He leaned into her gratefully, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

“I’m sorry Tony. I didn’t know,” she whispered, but everyone in the room heard her. Tony started sobbing silently into his knees, while the other three in the room stood there, shocked by what was happening. Steve, for one, had no words. Nat had just apologized, something that she didn’t even do when she “accidentally” locked Steve in his room for a day after he ate the last of the best mac n’ cheese in the world, made by their resident genius, and Tony was openly crying. 

Thor was the first to snap out of it, taking a spot on the couch beside Natasha. Clint recovered quickly after, taking Tony’s other side. He, of course, pulled the blanket that Nat and Tony were sharing over himself as well.

“Captain, move,” Natasha said coolly. Steve had never felt quite so afraid for his life, which was interesting because his occupation involved putting himself in life threatening situations almost daily. Instantly, he obeyed, and took a seat in the recliner to the right of Tony.

“JARVIS, play Inception,” Bruce said, returning to the room. He handed Tony a bowl of rice and vegetables, and a mug of chamomile tea to Natasha for her to hold until Tony could take it. JARVIS dimmed the lights in the room as the screen flashed to life. 

“Bruce, has anyone ever told you that you are the best?” Tony said softly. A small smile tugged at his face as Bruce sat down on the floor by Tony’s feet. Twenty minutes later, Tony was fed and asleep with his head on Clint’s lap, and his feet on Natasha’s. Nobody dared move, for fear of waking the genius up. 

“How long have you known?” Nat whispered, nudging Bruce softly. 

“I suspected for a while, since we spent some time together after New York. I didn’t know until a couple of days ago,” he responded.

“Shit, the night we were doing the trust fall thing right?” Clint asked, putting his head in his hands. “I should have realized.”

“Yes, our friend Anthony needed our support to battle his demons, but was met with pressure from those he was supposed to be able to trust. We must make this up to him,” Thor said as quietly as he could. Still, Thor was a very loud person, and Tony turned over in his sleep.

“I’m confused,” Steve confessed, feeling like the others had been told a very vital part of the story while he was left out.

“Tony had a panic attack,” Nat explained. “When the feeling of panic caused by something kinda takes over. A lot of the time it makes you feel like you can’t breathe, or you’re detached from reality.”

“Triggered by falling. After New York, Tony’s mind connects falling to when he flew the nuke through the portal, and falling through space with the expectation that he was going to die,” Bruce continued.

“He probably has PTSD. It was called a lot of different things back in the forties,” Clint added quietly.

“I talked to the therapist he was forced to see after New York. She couldn't tell me much, but since Tony has all of us listed as family in his medical contacts, she told me she had diagnosed him with PTSD, but he had stopped seeing her before she could help," Bruce said, sighing. "He had a flashback today, which triggered the panic attack, and has been having nightmares.” He touched the genius’s hair softly. Tony looked peaceful in his sleep, unlike the previous time when Bruce had to wake him up from a nightmare.

“We must do everything we can to make sure Anthony feels better again. It is deeply troubling to see him so distraught,” Thor observed. The others nodded, and the guilt they felt strengthened a little.

“Why didn’t he tell us? Doesn’t he trust us?” Steve asked. All their heads snapped up to him, looks varying from discontent to being purely pissed off clear on their faces. 

“I really do trust you,” Tony slurred, half-awake as he rolled around to face Steve. “I just didn’t want to look… weak.”

“Sorry Tony, did we wake you?” Bruce asked softly, turning back to Tony. He continued to touch the genius’ hair lightly. Tony appreciated the soothing touch, and tilted his head toward Bruce’s hand.

“Nope, I had a dream about ice cream. Y’know, ‘half baked’ from Ben and Jerry’s, with the chocolate and vanilla and brownie and cookie dough in it,” he mumbled, not opening his eyes.

“I believe there is a container in the refrigerator. I will return momentarily,” Thor said, rising from the couch. 

“Thanks Thor,” Tony spoke as he left for the kitchen. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. It’s a lot to deal with. Most people decide they don’t want to,” Tony said, softer this time.

“Tony, we’re not most people, and you are definitely not weak,” Nat insisted. “We just want to be there for you.”

“Thank god I’m not as sappy as you all,” Tony said, which was met with chuckles from the others. He sat up, still leaning heavily on Clint. 

“So JARVIS has been helping you whenever you have a… panic attack?” Steve said, seeming uncertain of what was appropriate to say.

“Mhmm.” Tony answered, looking down at his hands, his watch suddenly more interesting than before. “I do trust you guys, I really do. I just couldn’t… I can’t burden you…” he trailed off, and Nat leaned into him reassuringly.

“Tony, you are in no way a burden to anybody. Just know that in the future, you can always come to us,” Clint said.

“I probably wont,” Tony mumbled, feeling guilty. The others understood immediately. He didn’t want to burden anybody.

“JARVIS?” Nat asked. Tony rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything.

“I will inform one of you if Sir is ever in need of assistance,” said the AI. 

“I’m sorry Tony, I shouldn’t have doubted you,” Steve said.

“JARVIS, new protocol: Sap Alert. Sound an alarm whenever anyone ever says anything meaningful and or kind about me,” Tony said, his voice returning to his usual snarky tone. 

“Of course sir,” JARVIS answered. Steve snorted, but didn’t say anything else.

Just then, Thor walked into the room balancing six bowls, an ice cream scoop, spoons, and three pints of ice cream. It looked like he was seconds from dropping it all before Bruce jumped up to take the bowls and spoons from him. They fought over the ice cream scoop of course, since there was only one for six people. Nobody protested when Tony went for it though. 

“Play Sherlock, the one when Sherlock has to give a best man speech,” Tony said.

“We love you Tony,” Nat said, as the episode began to play. A loud, blaring siren echoed through the room, with Tony’s voice saying “Sap Alert” every five seconds.

“Yeah yeah, I love you too and all that jazz. Let me watch my show,” Tony said, a smile creeping onto his face as he leaned into the arms of his friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it! That was very fun to write, some angst and a lot of team fluff and bonding. I hope you enjoyed, you can send me prompts or little messages over at my Tumblr: tstarkwriting.tumblr.com

**Author's Note:**

> I'll update with chapter 2 tomorrow, and 3 the day after that. Check out my tumblr: tstarkwriting.tumblr.com and send me prompts or little messages about how wonderful Tony Stark is.


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